... no one here can really predict the changes they might make. I can only guess from what's in the book.

One thing, though. Wherever film one ends (same goes for film two) I hope they can manage to make it feel like a real ending. One of the oddest things to me about 'Deathly Hallows' part one was that I had no idea beforehand where the break would come, couldn't sense it coming in the writing and even when it did it didn't feel like an end. Suddenly there were the credits - and I remember thinking 'oh, is that over, then...' It all seemed very inconclusive, which surely wasn't the effect they were intending.

I don't anticipate this as a problem with 'The Hobbit' because they were careful to steer each part towards a satisfying end, so you could leave the cinema feeling that you'd seen a complete film even though there was more story to come. I think that's important